Blade magazine



Aug. 10, 1943. H. w. BRYAN BLADE MAGAZINE Filed June 12, 1940 Patented Aug. 10, 1943 BLADE MAGAZINE Herbert Bryan, Boston, Mass., assi'gnor to Gillette Saiety Razor Company, Boston,Mass.,

a corporation of Delaware ApplicationJune 12, 1940, Serial No. 340,617

8 Claims.

This invention consists in an improved magazine for safety razor blades or other fine-edged blades which it may be desired to dispense and to keep as a reserve supply in fully protected condition and to deliver one by one as required for use in a safety razor or other holder.

The general object of my invention is to improve magazines of this type in respect to security, convenience and safety. It is important that the magazine should be capable of being easily filled by the manufacturer, by automatic machinery, if desired, and that the blades in the magazine should be maintained with their sharp edges out of contact with all parts-thereof not only while in the magazine but when being withdrawn therefrom. If that is not done the skill and care of the manufacturer in producing exceedingly fine. keen cutting edges in his blades goes for naught because the slightest contact in withdrawing the blade from the magazine is likely to disturb the delicate structure of its edge. All these conditions are met in the magazine of my invention. The magazine is provided inter nally with positive means for locating the stack of blades out of contact with the walls of the magazine and in alignment with the delivery opening. The interior of the magazine and the blade-locating means may be fully exposed. by

'elementsare provided which prevent this withdrawal of the feed slide when the cover is in position. The feed slide is arranged to underlie a portion of the-blade stack at all times and is of such contour that when 'one blade. is delivered by the slide the blades remaining in the stack are elevated out of range of the delivery opening. This expedient avoids any possibility of more than one blade jamming in the delivery outlet duringthe feedingmovement of the slide.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes'of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

- Fig. 1 is an end view of the magazine on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 2 is aplanview of the magazine shown in actual size with the cover removed; a

Fig. 3 is a corresponding view with the feed slide shown in blade delivering position;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view' on the line 4-1 of Fig. 3;

.Fig. 5 is a broken sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2 but on a greatly enlarged scale;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the cover of the magazine; and

Fig. 7 is a view 'in perspective of the spring for holding the blade stack. I The magazine may be made of sheet metal stamped out and bent to shape or it may be moulded from any suitable thermo-plastic or thermo-setting material. The magazine herein shown is an elongated-rectangle in outline and i comprises a bottom plate l0 having upstandin side walls, a rear end wall I l and a front end wall l2. The upstanding walls are grooved or. rabbeted in their upper edge to receive a cover IB, presently to be described. The side walls and the front wall l2 merge at the front end of the magazine into the thickened comer posts l3 and these posts provide vertically extending shoulders for locating the blades within the magazine. The front wall I2 is provided at its lower edge with a discharge opening or slot H which is flush with the inner face of the bottom plate HI and which is shouldered in the upper edge as shown in Fig. 1 to provide a widened center portion. A pair of spaced blade-locating pins [5 project upwardly from the bottom plate In in positions opposite to the vertical shoulder of the posts I3.

The magazine is herein illustrated as adapted to handle double-edged safety razor blades of the well-known commercial Gillette type. These blades 30/ are provided with corner recesses defining elongated unsharpenedend portions. They are also each provided with a perforation .in the shape of a longitudinal slot of arbitrary The cover plate- It is shaped to fit snugly within the rabbeted side and end walls of the magazine and at its front end is provided with a stop or stops herein shown as a pair of downwardly extending spaced ears I I. These project downwardly behind the upper portion of the delivery opening of the front wall l2 and act to 4 longitudinal upstanding rib 22, designed. to fit the slot of the lowermost blade, and at its rear end it is provided with a raised or thickened area 23 which is of such dimension as to engage the spaced stops I! of the cover as indicated in Fig. 4 when the slide is drawn to the limit of its forward movement. The thickened area 23 is herein shown as being solid but maybe formed by a spring plate if desired. The rib 22 which is of substantially the same height but narrow at all times passes freely between the two stops H. The stops ll of the cover and the thickened area '23 of the slide constitute interlocking elements that limit the outward movement of the slide and prevent it from being detached from the magazine.

The feed slide 20 is provided in its rear end with a pair of parallel open-ended longitudinal slots 24 which afiord clearance for the pins l5. When the slide is moved to the innermost limit of its path, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the feed slide 20 underlies the blade stack and is of such thickness that initially the lowermost blade 30 of the stack is supported so that it may pass freely out through the delivery opening or slot 14 while the second blade in the stack is elevated so-that its end strikes the upper wall of the slot and is thus positively prevented from advancing with the slide. A bowed leaf spring 26, perforated for the passage of the pins 15, engages the cover of the magazine and the uppermost blade of the stack and tends at all times to press the stack downwardly in the magazine. The magazine is filled by removing the cover I6 and carefully inserting a stack of eight or ten blades located by the posts 53 and pins IS with their cutting edges out of contact with the side walls of the magazine and spaced from the two end walls. The stack of blades may be mechanically delivered to the magazine by automatic machinery without danger of damage to the sharp edges of the blades. The spring 26 is then put in place and the cover l6 closed, the stops ll passing between the forward end of the the blade stack and wall l2. As herein shown the cover may be permanently retained in place by riveting the upper ends of the pins '5 or it may be secured by soldering or other convenient means.

When it is desired to withdraw a blade from the magazine it is necessary only to pull the feed slide forwardly by means of its ears 2|; thereupon the lowermost blade 30 passes outwardly with the slide. being positioned thereon by the rib 22. The rib prevents displacement of the blade 30 so that it passes through the delivery slot without contactin any part of the magazine and lies fiat upon the feed slide where its forward end may be conveniently grasped at the forked'end of the slide. The feed slide 20 is arrested at the forward limit of its movement with a blade fully exposed thereon and this limiting action is affected by the engagement of. the

relatively wide thickened area 23 with the spaced stops I! at the front end of the magazine. As already explained, the thickened area 23 is too wide to pass between the stops I'l although free passage of the narrow rib 22 between them is facilitated.

During the outward movement of the feed slide the remaining blades 30 of the blade stack are prevented from longitudinal movement by the shoulders of the posts l3. As the feed slide advances it passes out from beneath the inner end of the blade stack and this is then immediately depressed into contact with the bottom plate 1.. The thickened area 23 of the slide, however, never passes out from beneath the forward end of the blade stack but pushes this up temporarilyinto an elevated position as shown in Fig. 4 where it is entirely above the opening of the delivery slot [4. When the feed slide is again pushed inwardly its thickened area 23 passes rearwardlybeneath the blade stack, lifting it from the bottom of the magazine and finally depositing the stack upon the fiat body portion of the slide with the rib 22 again registering with the slot in the lowermost blade of the stack.

It will be noted that the rib 22 tapers gradually at both ends and is thus adapted to pass smoothly in under the end of the lowermost blade 30 when the slide is moved inwardly. It will be noted also that the forward wall of the thickened area 23 is abrupt in contour and so provides a positive contact surface engaging the rear end of the lowermost blade 30 in the stack. The height of this wall however is not sufficient to engage the secondblade in the stack which,

as already stated is held against advancing movement by its engagement with the front wall l2 of the magazine.

In assembling the magazine the feed slide may be freely inserted through the delivery slot M in the front end wall and its subesequent removal is prevented by closing the cover l6 and bringing the stops 51 into position either inside or outside the end wall I2 to engage the thickened area 23 of the slide when the latter is advanced.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail one embodiment thereof for purposes of illustration but not in any limiting sense, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A blade magazine comprising a rectangular enclosure having one end wall with a transverse delivery slot in its lower edge shaped to provide a wide central opening merging into narrow side openings, means within the magazine for holding a stack of apertured blades with one end directed toward said delivery slot, and a feed slide movable in the magazine beneath the blade stack and outwardly through the delivery slot, said feed slide being provided with a narrow upstanding blade-locating rib shaped to enter the aperture of a blade in said stack and to pass freely through the wide central opening of the delivery slot and with a thickened area in its rear end which is too wide to pass through said central opening.

2.'A blade magazine comprising an elongated enclosure having one end wall shaped at its lower edge to provide a transverse delivery slot therein having a wide central opening merging into narrow side openings, means within the magazine for positioning a blade stack in vertical alignment opposite to said delivery slot, and a feed slide movable in the bottom of the magazine, outwardly through the delivery slot and having a central upstanding rib shaped to enter the lowermost blade of the stack and a laterally extending thickened area located in the rear of said rib.

3. A blade magazine having an end wall aperand forming therewith a restricted central pas-f sage, a feed slide movable in the magazine and outwardly through the delivery slot and having a narrow blade-locatingrib movable through the said central passage and having at its inner end a transversely extending projection movable into engagement with said stops to limit the movement of the slide and acting to liftabove the eifective opening of the slot undelivered blades resting on the slide when the projection thereon is advanced into proximity to said apertured wall.

4. A blade magazine having a wall shaped to H provide a delivery opening varying in height between its ends, and a feed slide movable in the magazine toward and through said opening and having a, longitudinal rib shaped to pass freely through one part of said opening and a raised portion at its inner end extending transversely out of line with the rib and greater in one dimension than the effective width of the said delivery opening.

5. A blade magazine comprising an elongated enclosure having a delivery opening in one end,

- means for locating a blade stack in the magazine spaced substantially from its other end, and a feed slide shaped to underlie the stack, movable on the bottom of the magazine through the dewall shaped to provide an exit slot adjacentto the bottom of the magazine, a cover detachable from the top of the magazine to permit filling the magazine with blades and having spaced downturned ears arranged to limit the effective width of the exit slot when the cover is in place, and a feed slide movable in the magazine through said slot and having a projection adjacent its inner end extending to a point at which it is engaged in one position of the slide by the ears of the coverthereby limiting the path of the feed slide.

'7. A blade dispensing magazine having an end wall shaped to provide a transverse exit slot adjacent the bottom of the magazine, a cover detachablyconnected to the ,top of the magazine to permit filling the magazine with blades and having at one end a downturned ear arranged to restrict the effective width of the exit slot, and a feed slide movable in the magazine and outwardly through the exit slot, said feed slide having a blade-locating rib so located as to pass freely past the ear of the cover and a projection at its rear end shaped to interlock with said ear in one position of the slide and thereby limit the outward movement of the slide.

8. A blade magazine having an ,end wall provided with a delivery opening in its lower'portion, a feed slide movable on the bottom of the magazine toward and into said opening and provided HitRBER'r w. BRYAN. 

